Divorce - American Style
by ms17thst
Summary: Thanks to Eddie and Joanne at DragonCon for saying what we all hoped for. And because we're all trying to fix what canon did.


**Thanks to Eddie for the inspiration and to Joanne for the words. Just my take on what they suggested.**

* * *

Myka looked around the large kitchen in the three bedroom colonial house that she and Pete had been in less than a year. The impulse to buy it was almost as quick as her impulse to marry. It seemed for a woman who strategized her every move most of her life, she was presently throwing caution to the wind daily.

_When did this all start_? she wondered. She knew the answer. Myka Bering rarely asked herself a question that she didn't then dig deep into her psyche and bare herself to find the answer. It was all very cognitive of course – because Myka was all about thinking things through.

Except now. Losing her job at the Warehouse blindsided her and threw her world upside down. Artie had assured them they would face this transition as a family, but the Regents saw it otherwise. The Warehouse was being reborn at a time when governments were cutting funding for such projects. Therefore, very little staff could be taken with them. Mrs. Frederic was retiring and Claudia was taking her place. Artie was going, of course, but that was because they feared for his health if he didn't.

It was a change none of them saw coming and it upended each one of them. Maybe that's what happened. Having the rug pulled out from under you has a way of mixing up all your feelings. It makes you feel vulnerable and no one likes that feeling.

Especially specially trained federal agents.

So when Myka felt like her world was turning upside down – she was already on overload having stuffed away her feelings to the maximum capacity. Her best friend that she had ever had was on undercover assignment for over a year. Myka knew the job came with things like this, but when Helena left in the middle of the night without any clues, Myka realized the pain in her chest was really her heart breaking.

She had missed her chance to be with Helena.

Some days Myka could hardly grasp that _the_ HG Wells was in her presence. They worked so well together that a natural bond formed quickly. Myka wasn't an idiot – she knew Helena had hinted at moving their relationship further. The long stares where Helena would lock eyes with her and smile. The way Helena took every opportunity to touch Myka, even when working in the Warehouse or out on assignment. The way Helena opened up her mouth but nothing came out of those full lips when she was staring at Myka.

Yes, Myka saw all the signs and she thought long and hard about it. She finally concluded at the end of her long analysis that she was indeed in love with Helena. The conclusion that was drawn in her head - made her heart burst with joy. A feeling Myka Bering had never experienced in her life except once – when Helena was reinstated as a Warehouse Agent. Now that seemed like ages ago. So did that day when she rushed to Helena's bedroom to tell her what she finally knew to be the truth – and the room was empty.

"_She's on assignment_," Artie said, then barked because Myka was so insistent. She knew even Artie had changed his mind about Helena. She stopped short of begging Artie – when he took her wrist gently and said – "_I would if I could, Myka, but I can't_.

And with that – Helena was gone.

The pain over Helena's clandestine escape was so bad for Myka that she did something she had never done - she took a sick day. It was twenty-four hours that Myka spent chastising herself for giving into her feelings. She already knew that allowing her emotions to erupt would only lead to trouble. She learned that lesson all her life. She bullied herself until she pushed the feelings back all over again and spent the next weeks shoving her feelings for Helena – into tiny compartments and shutting them down.

"She's back!" Pete finally said one day of his partner when Myka seemed like her old self.

And she was - on the outside. There was hardly a telltale sign of the heartbreak that was deep inside.

Then an assignment took them to Wisconsin and all hell broke loose. Helena's undercover operation led them to a new and dangerous artifact. All those emotions that were buried came rushing back at Myka as soon as she laid eyes on Helena.

Myka was simply defenseless against her feelings for that woman. She thought maybe fate was giving her another opportunity to be honest and to tell Helena. Until she met Nate and Adelaide. That was not part of the undercover – that – had just happened.

And worse – Helena seemed happy.

Myka swore she could hear her heart breaking into a thousand more pieces as she hugged Helena goodbye with the promise of coffee.

It never came.

As if he understood everything, Pete turned to Myka in the car and took her hand. "I'm sorry, Mykes," he said and meant it. The man who seemed oblivious to a lot – wasn't blind after all. He really was her best friend.

Which is why – when the news came that the Warehouse was moving and moving without them, Myka fell hard. And there to catch her was Pete. Suddenly, she looked at him and saw the sweet, kind, funny, gentle friend that had always been there for her.

It wasn't sparks when she looked at him – it was more like a warm feeling and Myka was hurting so badly, that any comfort felt good.

Pete saw a window of opportunity with a woman he had loved from the beginning. He thought it was more like the love you have for a sibling or your BFF – but the more he saw Myka every day – the more he realized – he had always loved her.

Everyone was happy for them, but there wasn't one person among their friends at the small wedding that didn't wonder about it. Everyone – even Mrs. Frederic – was aware of the change that came over Myka in Helena's presence. Artie was just glad she was out of Myka's life – because he felt she was too much of an emotional roller coaster ride for Myka.

The latest they had on Helena was that she had left her little family in Wisconsin and was living with a woman in New York. Everyone noticed that Myka almost seemed relieved when she shared the news with them.

The wedding doubled as the agents' farewell party and after the festivities, they all went their separate ways. Except of course, Pete and Myka who went back to work in Washington, DC. Both were reinstated to the Secret Service.

Months passed, work kept them busy, and schedules kept them apart for days, then weeks at a time. It was hard for Pete, but it gave Myka the solitude she needed and her real feelings started to haunt her. She didn't know what they were at first – but she knew what they weren't. They weren't feelings for Pete. She loved him, but slowly she started to realize – it had been a mistake.

Myka wasn't surprised that she screwed up. Of all the things Myka Bering excelled at, emotions were dead last.

"We have to talk," is how she said it when their schedules finally afforded them a night together.

Myka would be forever grateful that Pete responded with an affirmative '_yeah_' instead of surprise. He agreed to a trial separation, even though he knew it was a matter of time before the parted ways as husband and wife.

Whatever he had seen in Myka's eyes when she said yes to his proposal had all but disappeared. She was still caring and his best friend, but she wasn't his wife.

* * *

Myka cleared away the dish that still had her breakfast on it and dumped the remains of the orange juice in the sink. Pete had left a month ago and although the quiet in the house was deafening, she was getting used to it. She worked overtime, taking any assignment that would require her to keep busy and keep her feelings at bay.

Myka was getting her life back in order.

Until the knock at the door.

Maybe Pete needed a ride to work? He had taken the older of the two Priuses they owned.

"Be right there," Myka yelled, grabbing her stuff and headed towards the door. The knock came again.

"God, you are impatient!" she said as she swung open the door.

"Actually," the sultry British accented voice said, "I think I've waited long enough."

Very few things in life made Myka Bering faint – and this was one of them. She felt her legs go out from under her, her body go limp and fall into the arms that rushed at her and caught her. She awoke on the couch, a cool cloth across her forehead, and a hand stroking her cheek.

"Are you okay?" Helena asked, sitting next to her.

"Helena, how? Where? Why?" Myka asked, trying to grasp that the sight of the raven haired woman was real.

"All good questions, Myka," Helena said, pulling her hand back to place it in her lap with the other one. Her eyes looked down.

"I was – for lack of a better word – _stupid_," Helena said, who never thought of herself as that. "I thought I was finding my life and in fact, I was running away. I heard about you and Pete and was certain I had lost my chance, but then….," Helena said and then paused.

"Then?" Myka said, sitting up a little on the couch.

Helena didn't answer. Instead, she just looked into the green eyes she had missed terribly. God, she had been so foolish not to act. But everyone had been protecting Myka – and convinced Helena that if Myka wanted her, she would have acted.

Myka hadn't acted and so Helena had left. She could no longer take the pain of seeing her every day and not telling her how she really felt.

"Myka, I couldn't fight it anymore. I thought I had lost my chance – until …," Helen said to Myka who had gasped and was still holding her breath. "….Pete called to tell me – about you separating," Helena finished.

"He told you…?" Myka asked confused.

"He knows, Myka," Helena said.

"Knows what, Helena?" Myka asked.

"What everyone knows. That you and I - were meant to be together," Helena said in almost a whisper.

Tears flooded Myka's eyes and streamed down her cheeks. "Helena," she said softly, the lump in her throat making it impossible to speak.

In one swift move, Helena was off the couch and on one knee along Myka, and took her hands in hers. "My heart has ached for you all this time, Myka. I cannot be without you any longer. I need to know you feel the same," Helena said softly.

Myka stared at the face she had studied for hours and spent countless others, stealing glances at. She lifted Helena's chin and their eyes met.

"I have _always_ had a deep and abiding love for you, Helena," Myka confirmed.

Helena's heart pounded furiously – revived with the joy that this was the truth – this was what she wanted more than anything in the world.

Myka's own heart rejoiced This was right and every part of Myka knew it.

"Oh Helena, I thought I lost you. I thought we were lost forever," Myka wept as she pulled Helena into her body.

"Maybe we needed those detours to show us what we really wanted, Myka. Even Pete knows," Helena said.

"Pete!" Myka said as if she just remembered.

"It's okay, Myka. Pete understands. He told me he knew your heart was never really his," Helena said, her admiration for the man having grown tenfold since he called.

* * *

"_Don't be stupid, HG_," he said to her, the pain evident in his voice. "_We both want what's best for Myka and we both know now – what's best for her - is you,_" the man conceded.

* * *

Myka took her first vacation day that day. The morning was spent together, Helena explaining her long absence - how hard it had been to say goodbye to Myka in Wisconsin and how it became clear to her that she was fooling herself. Myka had done a convincing job that she was okay and so Helena hadn't rushed back. She was afraid she couldn't take Myka rejecting her.

"Foolish feelings," Helena said sorry it had cost them time.

"Hey, I know a thing or two about trying to push them aside. It's not easy," Myka said.

Then Helena took Myka's hand and stood so close to her, Myka could feel her breath on her lips.

"Helena, I'm still …married," Myka said breathless from the excitement of being this close to Helena.

"A detail we will have to see to straight away," Helena confirmed, moving forward until her full lips grazed Myka's waiting mouth. She moved in and gently pressed her lips on Myka's.

The phone ringing sounded more like bells in the steeple – the sound was so loud. Helena pulled back slowly, smiling. She knew that kiss would be as sweet as it was.

"I'll go make tea," the Brit said as she went back to the kitchen.

It took a couple of more rings before Myka actually answered it. "Hello?" she said, watching Helena walk out of the room. _Was she always that sexy when she walked_?

"Mykes?" Pete said three times before she answered him.

"Pete?" Myka said.

"Do you want one lump or two, darling?" Helena said from the doorway, the spoon dangling between her long slender fingers.

"Is that HG?" Pete asked. There was no surprise in his voice.

"Yes, she just showed up…..," Myka said. "After you called her."

"Look Mykes, I get it. I knew it all along really, but I didn't want to see it. So when I thought she was out of the picture, and I had a shot, I took it. But I always knew," Pete said into the phone.

"Knew what Pete?" Myka asked her two fingers up to indicate how much sugar she wanted. Helena smiled and returned to the tea.

"There was no room for anyone once HG entered your life, Mykes. We all saw it. You're a different person when you're with her," Pete said authoritatively.

"How am I, Pete?" Myka asked.

"You're happy," Pete said. He felt bad that he couldn't make Myka feel that way, but at least he got his chance.

"So…you're okay with this?" Myka asked, knowing a part of him wasn't. She could hear the hurt in his voice.

"I have always wanted what was best for you, Mykes. Turns out, it's her," Pete said.

"I love you Pete Lattimer," Myka said, her voice choking up.

"I know," Pete said.

Then he ended the call and took a deep breath to hold back tears that were pushing at him hard. "Hey Pete!" a familiar voice called to him. There was Kelly across the street at the playground, holding a toddler.

Maybe it was time to tell her wrong she was about things.

Helena entered the room carrying a tray with the tea on it. She and Myka sat down and talked for hours.

Pete was right – this really was what was best for Myka.


End file.
